In the production of inexpensive, premanufactured (hereinafter "manufactured") building structures, such as "mobile homes," it is desirable to utilize a pair of horizontally oriented, parallel I-beams as the base support for the structure, with the floor joist and other floor components being supported by the I-beams. With this arrangement, the floor joists extend laterally across the I-beams, with opposed ends of the floor joists extending beyond the I-beam in a cantilever arrangement, in that they overhang the I-beams.
One of the problems of this type of construction is that heavy loads are sometimes placed on the cantilevered portions of the floor structures, and the structures tend to slightly sag or give during normal wear and tear. For example, the floor structure at the entrance of a manufactured home which bears the repeated application of the weight of the people entering and exiting the home might need additional support to stabilize this area of the structure. In some instances, the placement of a heavy appliance or other spot loads are likely to need additional support in the floor structure.
While the joists utilized to form the manufactured home can be increased in size or number to accommodate the heavier and more frequent application of loads, it is considered wasteful to form the entire floor structure with an additional load-bearing capacity in order to accommodate the application of these loads at only a few locations about the entire structure.
Accordingly, diagonal struts have been utilized to support the cantilevered portions of a manufactured home. Typically, one end of a strut would be fastened to the cantilevered end portion of a floor joist, the strut would extend at a downwardly sloped angle to the lower flange of an I-beam, and engage the I-beam at the intersection of its lower flange and its central web. The strut would rely upon frictional engagement with the I-beam to remain in place.
More recently, an adjustable length strut has been developed which includes as its main body portion a cylindrical pipe section, with an adjustable nut and a threaded rod attached to the lower end for bearing against the I-beam and a thrust bracket connected to the upper end of the pipe for connection by means of screws or spikes to the floor joist. While this type of cylindrical pipe structure is adjustable and, therefore, an improvement over some of the prior art struts used for this purpose, the production of such a floor joist is expensive because it requires several parts, and the connection between the strut and the I-beam appears to be less than secure. Also, it is impossible to view the inside of the cylindrical pipe in order to determine the amount of the threaded rod that projects into the pipe or to determine the secure connection between the thrust bracket and the pipe, so that the installer or the maintenance person cannot be sure of proper mounting and maintenance of the product.
It is to these shortcomings that this invention is directed.